Time: Thailand Was Never the Land of Smiles, Whatever the Guidebooks May Have Told You

Thailand Was Never the Land of Smiles, Whatever the Guidebooks May Have Told You – Time, February 12, 2014
…The current crisis has tarnished the notion of Thailand as the “Land of Smiles” portrayed in tourist guides. But while the Lonely Planet may eulogize this “friendly and fun-loving, exotic and tropical, cultured and historic” land with its “ever-comforting Thai smile,” it is a pure fabrication to pretend the country was ever a bastion of happiness and unity…